The present disclosure relates to a wheel valve arrangement for a tire pressure control system of a vehicle comprising a pneumatically switchable wheel valve and a shuttle valve operating on the pressure balance principle as a vent valve, the control input of which is to be connected to a tire connection channel leading to a tire interior and is to be connected as a control input to an air supply line. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to a tire pressure control system having such wheel valve arrangement associated with each wheel carrying an air-inflatable tire and connected to the tire pressure control system.
Tire pressure control systems are used in motor vehicles, such as commercial vehicles, trucks, haulers, tractors or earthmoving machines, and non-driven vehicles, such as trailers, to be able to adapt the tire pressure in the tire to different operating situations. Tire pressure adaptation is primarily dependent on the ground conditions to be traveled on. By means of tire pressure, the footprint of the tire can be changed. A tire has a larger footprint at lower tire pressures. For this reason, it is commonly believed to be preferable to drive with a lower tire pressure on soft ground opposed to, for example paved roads. It is also usually advisable to adapt the tire inflation pressure and thus the tire inflation to the respective load condition of the vehicle. Tire inflation pressure adaptation can be done while the vehicle is moving. By optimizing the tire inflation pressure, the rolling resistance and tire wear can be significantly reduced depending on the ground conditions. In addition, optimally set tire inflation pressure leads to noticeably reduced fuel consumption.
Such tire pressure control systems have a rotary feedthrough as air transfers between the vehicle-side facilities of the tire pressure control system and the associated wheel-side units. Thus, for example, to increase the tire inflation pressure, compressed air is transferred from a vehicle-side compressed air source through the rotary feedthrough to the rotatably mounted wheel. The same applies in the reverse case of a desired lowering of the tire inflation pressure, if no wheel-side tire venting is provided.
Such a rotary feedthrough comprises a vehicle-side stator and a wheel-side rotor separated by a movement gap. The stator and rotor are typically arranged coaxially to the axis of rotation of the wheel. For the compressed air transfer, the stator and rotor have annular open grooves or chambers which are opposite each other with respect to the movement gap, point towards each other, and are sealed by activatable seals (pressure seals) as described in EP 1 095 799 B 1 for the time of the compressed air transfer to form a compressed air transfer chamber. An air line is provided on the wheel side at the rotor of the rotary feedthrough leading to the wheel rim. This air line passes through the wheel rim in an opening and opens into the tire interior. A controllable valve. a wheel valve, which is opened for the process of tire pressure control and closed after completion of the process, is connected into the wheel-side air line. In a motor vehicle the compressed air itself is typically provided with a vehicle-side compressor as a compressed air source. The aforementioned compressor is commonly used in such vehicles for operating the brake system.
DE 20 2013 105 026 U1 discloses a wheel valve arrangement for a tire pressure control system according to the preamble of claim 1. This wheel valve arrangement comprises a wheel valve connected to the air supply line supplied to the wheel by the rotary feedthrough, whose outlet is connected to the inlet of a shuttle valve operating on the pressure balance principle. The shuttle valve is designed in this reference as a quick vent valve. The control side of the quick vent valve is in fluid communication with the tire interior. The wheel valve is switched via a separate compressed air pressurized control line. As a result, such a wheel valve arrangement can only be used in conjunction with a two-channel rotary feedthrough.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.